Seeing Liu Feng and two eunuchs coming forward to "respectfully invite" the queen to return to Kunning Palace, although the queen's face changed repeatedly, she finally turned around and left with forced calmness. Only then did Concubine Yu put away her just ostentatious demeanor and fierce aura, lowered her brows, and became the introverted and gentle palace concubine of the past.
Princess Yongping saw with her own eyes that her mother forced the empress into a dilemma with just a few words, and then made a big mistake by lying. She felt her heart pounding, but the words that the emperor said made her heart rise to her throat again.
"If you want to find fault with the Queen, with your intelligence, you can think of a thousand ways. Why kill a thousand enemies and hurt yourself eight hundred? Let her bring up the bloody past again. Will it be easier for you and Mingyue? If you don't think about yourself, think about Mingyue too! If you are upset about her stirring up trouble, you can come to me or the Queen Mother to ask for justice!"
"Your Majesty, you are too kind. I am the mistress of Yonghe Palace, and I am extremely wealthy and powerful. I don't care about other people's slander. But Mingyue Yunying is still unmarried, and I cannot bear to see her life being questioned and her lifelong affairs slandered! Moreover, Yingying and Zhang Shou are so innocent outside the palace, yet they are criticizing their marriage, which is almost ready to be completed!"
"I have endured for sixteen years. I wanted to get rid of this anger today, but since Mingyue stopped me, it's not that I can't continue to endure it, but in this case, I have to at least scare her! If the emperor came later, I might really put the sword on her neck and make her admit that she was the mastermind behind those things outside!"
Princess Yongping finally took a deep breath. She no longer dared to let Concubine Yu continue, and hurriedly stepped forward to block her mother, bowed her head and apologized: "Father, mother was just angry at the moment, so she acted impulsively, she did it all for me. As for mother causing the Queen to accuse her of the past, it was because the Queen has always been slandering us behind our backs!"
The emperor looked at Concubine Yu, then at Princess Yongping, and could not help but sigh: "A mother is strong for her son. I don't want to say more. Zhang Shou is a good son, but whether there is a marriage certificate or not, since it is Yingying..."
Before the emperor could finish his words, Princess Yongping said categorically: "Whether Zhang Shou has an engagement with the Zhu family is a matter between him and the Zhu family. It has nothing to do with my mother and me! Don't say that I don't want to get married. Even if I really can't get married, I won't be so shameless as to snatch Zhu Ying's man!"
Seeing Princess Yongping had said what he wanted to say, the emperor pulled his neatly trimmed beard awkwardly, then smiled bitterly and said, "Okay, okay, since I have promised you, you can choose for yourself, whether it is the top scholar in civil or military affairs, or a talented person from the people, anyway, you can take a good look at them. However, before you are 18 years old, you have to marry yourself, otherwise the Queen Mother will not be able to stop me."
Concubine Yu knew that the Emperor implied that the matter could only be delayed for one year, but she still couldn't help feeling relieved.
The emperor had indeed done his utmost to offer such leniency and conditions. But what he said next made her laugh and cry.
"If you really can't pick a candidate, then you might as well consider the son of Duke Qin... that kid Zhang Chen. He boasted to me that he wanted to marry you, and he even wanted to learn to write eight-part essays for this purpose. I picked an old Hanlin to teach him, and I heard that he complained a lot and was learning it with gritted teeth."